[rrrrrrrrrrrryan]

I don't think that's what he's saying at all.

He's only acknowledging that they're already algorithmically guiding the conversation and shaping public opinion. The algorithms are just bad: there are tons of feedback loops, too much emphasis on amplifying the already-popular and virtually no effort to de-emphasize the trash, and so you end up with a dumpster-fire / cacophony that Twitter is today.

Hacker News discussions are great because they're so well-moderated. It's not hard to imagine Twitter doing a better job of algorithmically demoting some of the obvious rage-bait, fake news, straight-up hate speech, etc.